Tuesday, January 10, 2006

DoJ: Rape trial countdown hasn’t started

THE Department of Justice has ruled that the countdown to the one-year limit that the state has to prove its case against four US marines accused of raping a Filipina begins with the arraignment.

Under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the United States and the Philippines, US servicemen accused of crimes in the Philippines no longer need to appear if the trial takes longer than a year.

In a Jan. 9 memo, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez explained to Olongapo City Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni that the countdown begins when the accused are brought to court to plead their guilt or innocence.

Government prosecutors led by Jalandoni filed rape charges against the four American soldiers last month, but Gonzalez stressed that neither the preliminary investigation nor the time needed for appeals is part of the one-year trial period.

“The one-year period will not include the time necessary to appeal. Nor shall it include any time during which scheduled trial procedures are delayed because the US authorities, after timely notification by Philippine authorities to arrange for the presence of the accused, fail to do so,” Gonzalez said.

As before, Gonzalez said it will be difficult for the Philippines to take custody of the servicemen, who are being held in the US embassy in Manila because VFA allows the Americans to retain custody.

Judge Renato Dilag of the Regional Trial Court Branch 73 has said he wants the accused in local custody, but any warrant of arrest will have to go through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which in turn will serve the documents to the respondents through the US embassy.

Dilag, tapped to handle the case last Jan. 3 against Daniel Smith, Chad Carpentier, Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis and their driver, Timoteo Soriano, has vowed to finish the trial in a year, but has not yet issued an arrest warrant for the accused.

Also yesterday, DFA urged senators to stop comparing VFA to the military treaty between the United States and Japan.

DFA spokesman Gilbert Asuque dismissed Senator Aquilino Pimentel’s statement that said the government should use Japan as a model on how to impose local laws on visiting military personnel accused of crimes.

“Our treaty is now being enforced. It won’t help if we compare it to Japan,” Asuque said, pointing out that the two agreements were approved under different conditions.

US embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop echoed this view, saying it was difficult to draw similarities between VFA and the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security.

Pimentel and Senator Richard Gordon had slammed DFA and the justice department for not doing enough to assert custody over the four US marines.

In Japan, the US Navy handed over an American sailor to local police, after he was accused of beating a woman to death last Jan. 3.

Under the US-Japan treaty, custody of an accused US serviceman stays with the United States until he is charged in Japan.

In contrast, the US government has remained silent over a Philippine request for custody of the four marines filed last Nov. 16.

The VFA says the Philippines may “request” custody but the US is under no obligation to approve the request.

Asuque said DFA will serve the arrest warrant if one is issued, but could not say if the US would turn over the marines to local authorities.

The embassy has promised to present the accused in court proceedings. With Ferdinand Fabella

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Gonzalez clarifies period for Subic rape trial

By JOMAR CANLAS, The Manila Times Reporter

The one-year period for trying military personnel under the Visiting Forces Agreement should begin from the time of arraignment and not at the start of the preliminary investigation, Justice Secretary Raul M. Gonzalez said Monday.

Gonzalez’s legal opinion was contained in a memo issued Monday to Olongapo City Prosecutor Jalandoni, who was tasked to take the four American Marines in the rape case involving a Filipina.

Under Article 5, Number 6 of the VFA, the trial itself should be within the one-year period, Gonzalez said.

He argued that the delaying tactics of the lawyers of the American servicemen would not be allowed and their appeals and motions on behalf of their clients would not be considered in the prescribed trial period.

"The one-year period will not include the time necessary to appeal. Neither shall it include anytime during which scheduled trial procedures are delayed because the US authorities, after timely notification by Philippine authorities to arrange for the presence of the accused, fail to do so," the Gonzalez memo said.

Facing rape charges are Marines Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood, Dominic Duplantis and Chad Carpentier. Timoteo Soriano, the Filipino driver who drove the van for the four suspects, was also cited as an accessory.

The Olongapo Prosecutor’s Office earlier cleared servicemen Albert Lara and Corey Barris, who were also in the van, for lack of evidence.

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Rape suspects under RP jurisdiction

THE four US Marines accused of raping a 22-year-old Filipina must be placed under Philippine custody before their trial, according to an interpretation by the Department of Justice of the contentious one-year deadline under the Visiting Forces Agreement for the termination of criminal cases involving American servicemen.

In a one-page memorandum dated January 9, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez informed Olongapo City Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni that the one-year period commences from the time of arraignment in court.

Jalandoni handles the controversial rape case against American Marines Daniel Smith, Chad Carpentier, Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis. Filipino Timoteo Soriano, who drove the van where the rape allegedly took place November 1 last year in Subic, Zambales.

The new ruling makes it mandatory for the accused Americans to submit themselves to the local court's jurisdiction.

Under the VFA, the one year period within which the judicial proceedings of the rape case against the US servicemen is to be reckoned from the time of their arraignment, Gonzalez said in the memorandum.

The deadline, the justice chief said, shall not include the period of preliminary investigation by the prosecutors.

The case was filed before the Olongapo city court last month, a little less than a month after the preliminary investigation.

Gonzalez also said an appeal by the lawyers of the accused and trial delays caused by the failure of American authorities to present the accused in court would not suspend the one-year countdown.

The one year period will not include the time necessary to appeal. Neither shall it include any time during which scheduled trial procedrues are delayed because the US authorities, after being notified by the Philippine government of the need to present the accused in court, failed to do so, Gonzalez ruled.

The impending issuance of warrants of arrest against the four American servicemen will be a litmus test of the government's resolve to assert jurisdiction over the respondents.Hector Lawas, People's Journal

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DOJ: One-year clock on rapecase starts ticking on arraignment

JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez yesterday said any delay in the arraignment of four accused US Marines in the Subic rape case by reason of their non-appearance would not be covered by the one-year trial deadline set by the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement.

"Please be informed that under the VFA, the one-year period within which the judicial proceedings of the rape case against the US servicemen is to be reckoned from the time of their arraignment and shall not include the period of preliminary investigation," he said in a memo to Olongapo Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni.

Gonzalez said the one-year period shall not include the time for appeal of whatever judgment will come from the lower court.

"Neither shall it include any time during which scheduled trial procedures are delayed because the US authorities, after timely notification by Philippine authorities to arrange for the presence of the accused, fail to do so," he said.

Gonzalez also told Jalandoni that the court may assert its authority to transfer the custody of the accused to the Philippine government even despite a provision in the VFA which gives the sole right to take custody to the American government.

Defense lawyers have said they will invoke provisions in the agreement where US will have custody over the accused until the court announces a verdict.

This further triggered fears that the accused American soldiers might not show up in the arraignment at the sala of Judge Renato Dilag of Olongapo RTC branch 73.

Dilag is set to issue a warrant against the accused anytime this week.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo will ask US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice to grant the Philippine government’s request for the custody of the four when he flies to Washington on Jan. 17.

"There is pressure from the government to have custody over the US soldiers. The secretary will definitely take it up with Secretary Rice," a source said.

Romulo is expected to meet Rice in Washington D.C. He will stay in the US until Jan. 22.

The Philippine government sent a note verbale to the US embassy on Nov. 16 requesting custody of the accused. Washington has yet to give its reply.

The source said Romulo will cite the "extraordinary nature" of the case which requires US officials to turn over suspects of "especially heinous crimes" such as rape or murder.

Under the VFA, the US will retain custody of its military personnel accused of wrongdoing unless the Philippine government requests otherwise.

There is however a provision in the VFA where the US can refuse such a request, drawing criticism from Philippine lawmakers who said the provision infringes on national sovereignty.

Aside from the rape case, the two officials will also discuss terrorism and other security issues.

Romulo will also brief Rice on the political situation in the Philippines and update her on the peace process with the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front. – Evangeline de Vera and Marilou Jumilla, Malaya

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16 January 2012